ACTION

I am Andy Smith. I am, by VA standards, a 100% disabled combat veteran. I want to share with you some things that have been on my mind as of late. Today we will lose 22 American veterans to suicide. And tomorrow we will lose the same number. We have been losing roughly that number everyday for years now. The number is increasing and will continue to increase. We are told it is because of alcoholism, drugs, PTSD, pain and war wounds; and it is all of those. However, there is something no one is willing to admit. It is that most veterans have no hope. We as young men and women were shown pictures of our forefathers and waving flags and eagles flying free. We were stirred by grand words that had meaning like freedom, valor, honor and duty. Many answered the call to serve America with all that we had and were. And we did, many of us gave our fortunes, sanity, families, limbs and many, our lives to show our love for sweet America. So why have we no hope? Why can we not find solace in those grand words anymore? Because they have taken on different meanings to us. As American veterans we face an impossible situation. Our sweet mother has and is doing the impossible. We signed a contract with this nation binding us to her service and we did so with fervor. We were promised that we or those we left behind would be taken care of if we fell on duty. Many of us, today, sit waiting for this to be fulfilled. Many are being murdered by the medical administrators placed in watch care over us. You say that murder is such a strong and inappropriate word. How does one define the actions of medical personnel and administrators that kill American veterans to obtain bonus money and continue to receive luxurious benefits? Is it not murder to lie about a veteran’s cancer results? Is it not murder to fill a veteran with powerful painkillers rather than give them their desperately need surgery. How it is not murder to deny a veteran has PTSD leaving him to his demons and alcoholism to suffer for years. Is it not murder to let veterans starve and freeze to death on city streets inches from VA property? If a lifeguard, entrusted with the watch care of swimmer allowed that same swimmer to flounder and then drowned would that not be murder? If it was found that the lifeguard made plans to let the swimmer drowned, would it be murder then? What if we found that lifeguard actually got bonuses for being ever vigilant, but instead chose to sleep, would that be murder? You see this is the impossible.  We as veterans were torn down to our core and remade with words like honor and valor and duty, yet this is how America treats us. We see Congressmen making majestic speeches about how they will do all in their power to help vets. Then we are issued a cheap piece of plastic bearing the most ironic title ever thought of, the Choice Card. i.e. Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act.  A card that gives a vet no choice of doctors, a program where you still wait for months, and the continuing opportunity to sit waiting on the Veterans Administration to continue to decide if you really need your medications. Vets are finding themselves in dire financial situations with the choice card where the VA is lagging in its payment to the non-VA providers leaving the veteran being forced to pay for the healthcare that was supposed to be giving to them. This is the impossible! Veterans cannot resolve in our minds how this is even possible. It is beyond our ability to comprehend that anyone would allow this atrocity to happen let alone continue. This is betrayal beyond what we can understand and withstand. And so amidst the storm of physical pain and mental anguish we are cut down by betrayal. We find in our suffering we are not in the sweet caring embrace of mother America we are instead held fast in a death grip. We find a cold blade deep in our hearts. And we have no hope. Death is a much more desired thought than that of this betrayal.  

But you say, “Andy, really aren’t you just being dramatic?” Yes, I am being very dramatic.  We are locked in nothing less than a classic drama. The Phoenix VA was the first exposed to have been murdering vets by denying them care. Then as the months have passed city after city, VA facility after VA facility has been exposed doing the very same things. Even as the Phoenix VA was coming under fire by the public, the Veterans Administration, began a multimillion dollar ad complain on FaceBook pages and several other social media websites. They spent millions creating these websites, pages, and filming Hollywood quality videos, to convince the public that they care. The sites were not link from the main VA website, nor were they advertised to us veterans.  The sites simple were placed in the public arena and then advertised on search engines and social media websites. These sites had no purpose to veterans or their care but were nothing less than good old fashioned propaganda. No these ad campaigns did nothing and still do nothing to benefitted vets in any way, but tried to convince the public of the VA’s altruistic intentions.

                    My wife and I moved from Arizona, because of the failing VA health care system in that state. I waited 10 years for much needed back surgery, only to receive it and then get no follow up care. My back was not entirely fixed, nor was I given any physical therapy afterwards. The doctor’s notes actually say, “Patient refuses hydrotherapy…” This is of course a lie. We are now living in Florida and thought it would be better. It is not. I see the same waste, and abuse here as I saw in Tucson and Phoenix. The Tampa VA Hospital spent an absurd amount of money on a new wing that is supposed to be for veterans. There is an indoor swimming pool, climbing walls, and food court atrium, and putting greens. One would think someone actually care for us. Sadly no, this was yet a way to spend the funds we need for medicine and care, on nice buildings with lots of wonderful features that vets will never see and hardly ever get to use. The pool alone has approximately 125 problems that the contractor needs to fix before it can open. The building is sitting near empty because of safety issues, and structural problems. The pool itself is leaking 3 inches of water a day, and may never be able to be fixed. The glass in the windows may not be hurricane rated, the water circulation and heating system does not work to code, and there is even a rumor that the pool itself is not grounded properly. Yet, the Tampa VA spent millions on hiring a “world famous architect” to design this monstrosity. And the list goes on and on. Each VA facility is eyeball deep in problems, so many even if we sat down and tried to list all of them at only one location we could be working on the list for years.

                    Folks, this is a last desperate effort I suppose. I am writing this to plead a case as it were for the American veteran. There are some basics you may or may not know. We, as veterans, have a contract with America. We swore to uphold the constitution and obey the orders of those appointed over us. Many have done that with great and costly loss. We simple want, and in my cases, need what is owed to us. As you no doubt know, there has been a great deal of fuss in the press about the VA and what is being done by the leadership to fix the terrible problems that have been going on for decades now. Lots of representatives got elected with VA reform as one of their platforms. Lots of folks running around saying they are going to fix this. But nothing, NOTHING but press releases about how much money they are throwing at the problem, nothing but how many people they "might", "possibly" "could" "should", "would" hold accountable. But in reality there is nothing. There are clear laws in the U.S.Code requiring jail time and fines for the things many of these criminals have done to veterans. But, they are simply allowed to retire, or change to another department in the government. And even if they throw a thousand or two thousand of these murders in jail, how will that make veterans health care better? It has only made VA employees more vile. Laws have been passed and there are still huge waiting lists for care. But we tell the folks at the VA, "Hey, aren’t you supposed to be getting me an appointment within 30 days?" We hear the same stalling, "This department hasn't gotten any funding yet." or "The hospital administration has not yet drafted clear guidelines as to who qualifies for that”...bla bla bla… And what about that new law anyway? When we start looking really close at it, we see loopholes, lots of them. First off you need to live more than 40 miles from a VA facility. Well there are few places where that is true. The VA has little one or two person offices all over America to meet this requirement, whether they are a healthcare facility or not. Well surely someone qualifies for this? If you do the VA says your appointment needs to be more than 30 days away. But where does one get this appointment? From the VA of course. And it is the VA hospital that you have to wait for months and years on to be seen only for them to decide whether you need treatment or not. If they say you need something done, back surgery for example, then the 30 day limit comes into play. If they never make a diagnosis, you will never have a procedure. I was in desperate need of back surgery; terrible pain for years. Finally, after 10 years, and the fact I could no longer walk without aid and the threat of a congressional complaint, and law suit by my wife. I got back surgery. And that was all. No physical therapy, no hydro-therapy, no pain counseling.

Dear people, something needs to be done, someone needs to take up this fight. Something real, not more press releases, or stickers, we need real help real soon. If something isn't done real soon, I fear for our countries future. I am going to say this and not as a threat. If America does not fix this problem, and do it in a way that is over the top in a way that clearly satisfies the injustice. We as a nation will become defenseless. What do I mean? My last name is Smith think of all the young people in my family alone; all of my nieces, nephews, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th cousins. We are now talking about dozens of young people. All very bright, only one or two that cannot qualify for military service. And NONE of them are joining the military. Not because of what I or my other relatives have said. No person in my family has told anyone of them to not join the military. But they have been listening, and watching, and learning. Here's something I heard a 2nd cousin say, “Why should I join when they just lie to you from the time you going it to the time you get out and they just let you die, psst Hell no!" She is bright, studying to be a nurse. And has no intention of ever joining, not even the reserves. This scares the daylights out of me. And if anyone had an inkling as to how widespread this was, it should terrify people to the point they could not sleep and were ringing their congressman's phone off the desk. This is exploding across Facebook, Twitter, and the rest of social media. Young people are watching. Now think what happens if veterans actually start encouraging young folks to exclude the military in their future plans rather than letting them figure it out? Who will be the Airman, or Marines, or soldiers and sailors?

What do I think? Well as I said, I think it needs to be over the top at this point. I long said we could fix a lot of things in the VA healthcare system if VA healthcare employees could only receive VA healthcare instead of the premium plans they have available to them. But there are way too many unions involved for that to ever happen. I think we need freedom. I think we need a healthcare account that we can go buy real healthcare with. The numbers look like it costs $750 - $900 a month to cover a veteran with healthcare. (Or at least that is what it cost the VA to cover a vet.) Give us a government VA account to go buy coverage with. If VA hospitals are so wondrous, then vets will overwhelmingly choose to stay with the VA as their healthcare provider. It would work much like our education account.  Sure there needs to be safeguards, making sure vets only buy healthcare. Many think we can fix this problem. It cannot be fixed. Every dollar Congress throws at the VA it is wasted on more and bigger bonuses, or remodeling projects, and not to hire doctors or give us medicine and procedures we need. Thousands of veterans have been murdered. We need real healthcare, and we need real freedom. However, this needs to be done quickly; vets increasingly do not trust the VA. We have been told for years that we are just paranoid. But the truth is coming out. We are being systematically eradicated, without a voice. As I stated at the beginning of this article, we lose 22 veterans to suicide every day that is one every 65 minutes. And because of the cover-ups numbers may actually be higher. These numbers do not include those of us who have been murdered. Do you see why we are taking our lives? We would rather not live in a world where this kind of America exists. Physical pain is one thing, but the emotional pain of betrayal is a bitter poison, to which we have no defense. We protected you; we only ask you do the same. Please be a voice to give us what we need and what was promised to us.